Listed buildings and conservation areas
Where a report pairs knapped flint with galleting in the joints, what stays open about spalling the survey did not pick out?
The spalling the survey did not pick out stays open, flint by flint. Knapped flint is split to show a face, and galleting is the small stones packed into the wide joints. The report pairs those finishes as they were seen. It does not schedule every flint that is shelling, so individual spalls remain unlisted. The survey has not decided the wall is failing. Listing covers the whole building, and this visit does not grant consent to repoint or rebuild the face.
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.
What is the fuller explanation?
Knapping splits a flint so the dark interior becomes the face. Joints are often wide, and galleting presses small stones into the mortar as a finish. Spalling is a face shelling off, one stone or many. The survey can describe the wall in general. It does not mark every spall it did not pick out, and it did not test why any shelling started.
Tell the solicitor the flint and the galleting were described, and that unlisted spalls stay outside the report. If you need a stone-by-stone view, a masonry surveyor can do that as a separate look. Work to a listed flint wall, including repointing, can need consent, which this survey does not give. The lender has a general note of the face, not a schedule of every shelling flint. Leave the joints alone until that is clear.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Did you describe knapped flint and galleting without listing every spall?
- Are individual flints that were not picked out still undecided?
- Has this visit granted consent to repoint the flintwork?
What are the typical next steps?
- Treat unlisted spalling as outside this report.
- Ask a mason for a closer schedule if every flint must be known.
- Tell the solicitor no listed consent comes from the survey.
Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.
Also asked about this
Does galleting mean the joints are sound?
No. Galleting is how the wide joints were finished. It can be intact while mortar behind the chips is tired, or the chips themselves can be loose. The survey named the finish. It did not test every joint. Packed stones are not a pass for the mortar around them.
If the knapped faces look bright, is spalling ruled out?
No. A bright knapped face is the split surface that was meant to show. Spalling the survey did not pick out can still sit elsewhere on the wall, or be too small to list. Shine on the flints that were seen is not a survey of every stone. Shelling stays unscheduled where it was not picked out.